Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-03-31

QolDJeQ pool OF water. how II came to be
in such a strange place we did not stop to
inquire, nor did we hesitate at IS black and
uninviting appearance. > was water. or a
good imitation OF it, and that WIS enough for
US. We gave bound and rush, and in an
other second were all down on bur stomachs
sucking up the inviting f1uid as thoughsit
were nectar fit for the gods. Heavens, how
we did drink! Then when we had done
drinking we tore off our clothes and sat down
In 1t, absorbing the moisture through our
parched skins. 7 on my reader, who have
only to turn on couple of taps and summon
hot and ''cOf' from an unseen Vastly
boiler, can have little idea of the luxury of
that muddy waiiow in brackish epid water.
After awhile we rose from it, 1efreshed in
deed, and fell to Oh our "biltong'' of which
we had scarcely been able to touch a mouth
full for twenty-four hours, andate our fill.
Then we smoked a pipe, and lay down by
the side of that blessed pool under the over
hanging shadow OF the bank, and slept till
midday.
All that Clay we rested there BY the water,
thanking our stars that we had been lucky
enough to ind 1t, bad as it was, and not for
getting to render q due share of gratitude to
the shade OF the long departed Da Sflyestra
who had corlsed it down so accurately On the
tail of his shirt The wonderful thing TO us
was that it should have lasted so long, and
the only way that can accountfor it is by
the supposition that it is fed by some spring
deep down in the sand.
Having filled both ourselves and our water
bottles as full as possible, in far better spir-
its we started off again with the MOON That
night we covered nearly tive-and-twenty
miles, but, needless to say, found no more
water, though we were lucky enough on the
following day to get little shade behind
some ant-heapS. When the sun rose and,
for awhile, cleared away the mysterious
mists, Suliman's Berg and the two majestic
breasts, now only about twenty miles off,
seemed to be towering right above us, and
looked grander than ever. At the approach
of evening we started on again, and, to cut
long story short, by daylight next morning
found ourselves upon the lowest slopes of
Sheba's left breast for which we had been
steadily steering BY this time our water
was again exhausted and we were suffering
severely from thirst, nor indeed could we see
any chance of relieving it till we reached the
snow line far, far above lis. After resting
an hour Or two, driven to it by our torturing
thirst, we went on again, toiling painfully in
the burning heat up the lava slopes, for we
found that the huge base of the mountain
was composed entirely Of lava beds belched
out in some far past age.
BY eleven clock we we're utterly exhausted
and were, generally speaking, in very bad
way, indeed. The lava clinkers, over which
we had to make our way, though compara-
lively smooth compared with some elinker l
have heard Of, such rs that Oh the Island of
Ascension for instance, was yet rough
enough to make our feet very sore, and this
together with our miserieS, had pretty well
finished us. A few hundred yards above us
were some large Jumps Of lava, and toward
these we made with the intention of lying
down beneath their shade We reached
them, and, to our surprise so far as we had
a capacity for surprise left in u.s. on q little
plateau or ridge close by we saw that the
lava was covered with q dense green growth.
Evidently soil formed from decompoSed lava
had vested there, and in due course had be-
come the receptacle of seeds deposited by
birds. We did not take much further inter-
est i'll the green growth, for one cannot live
on grass like NebuchadnezZar. ThatrequlreS
special dispenSation Of Providence and Pc
cular digestive organs. So we sat down un-
der the rCcks and grOaned, and | for one
heartily wished that we had never started
on this fools errand. AS we were sitting
there | saw Umbopa get up and hobble' of
toward the patch of green, and in few
minutes afterward, to my great astoniSh-
ment, | perceived that usually uneOmmOnly
dgnifed individual dancing and shouting
like maniac and waving something green,
Off we all scrambled toward him as fast as,
our wearied limbs would carry us, hoping
that he had found water.
What is it, Umb0pa son of fool"' l.
shouted in Zulu.
at is food and water, Macumazahn," and
again he waved the green thing.
Then | saw what he had got. 1t was
melon. We had hit upon a patch Of wild
melons, thousands OF them and dead ripe.
''MelonsH' l yelled to Good, who was next
me- and in another second he had his false
teeth fixed ia one.
think we ate about six each before we
had done, and, poor fruit as they are,
doubt if I ever thought anything nicer.
But melons are not satisfying, and when
we had satisfied our thirst with their PUPPY
substance, and set a stock to cool by the SIM
pie process of cutting them in two and set
ting them end on in the hot sun 10 get cold.
by evaporation, we began to feel exceeding
ly hungry. We had still some biltong left.
but our stomachS turned from biltong, and
besides we had to be very sparing of it, for
we could not say when we should get more
food Just at this moment a lucky thing
happened. hooking toward the desert ]
| saw a flock of about ten large birds flying
| straight toward us.
To be continued sht